Do pomegranates tolerate heavy root pruning?

[Smoke]

I had mine in the sun, but we actually have temps this week in the 90s, which means well over 100 in the sun, so they are off to afternoon shade now for a while.

Yes they respond well to heavy root pruning as long as they are healthy and growing in good soil. Like Al I repot and put right back in the sun this time of year. They'll recover faster and have smaller leaf size than if put in shade. They're pretty tough if healthy.

Well like I said they are used as West facing landscaping here and do pretty well in 120 and 4% humidity...

Yeah. Just about. I misread smoke's post as putting it in the sun after transplanting. Its heating up by midweek so I'll keep it in a shade area.

It is a little scare when we transplant the plant which has the young leaves coming out! I would transplant the pomegranate in fall when all leaves dropped off or when the leaf buds start swelling up.
Bonhe

Lots of soup being made....chefs never agree....This is a plant from the desert, indigenous to the Mediterranean states like Israel, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There is no place in the USA where weather could be harsh for pomagranates.

edit: snow could be a problem though......

 

[bonhe]

I wonder what is so rush to place the new transplanted pomegranate to the direct sunlight right away? My principle in life is " Do No Harm"! Someone will say if you don't want to harm the tree, don't do bonsai. To answer this, it is completely different!

To put the new transplanted pomegranate with very young leaves in the direct sunlight with temperature around 80 degrees F, it is too risky for the tree. The sunlight will burn the leaves in no time (the young leaves don't have enough cutin for their protection from the sunlight intensity combined with high temperature). Besides, the high temperature associated with low humidity (at least in Southwest of the US) will easily cause dehydration for the tree due to its rootage, is still in shock right after the transplant, can not absorb the water from the soil combined with evaporation through the leaves (thin leaves will lose more water).

I am living in the dry hot area, I must carefully take care of my trees especially when they are in critical time (post-tranplant, post-graft or cutting, etc). My thinking is that training the bonsai has to take many years to reach to the final stage. If I rush to place the new transplanted tree to the direct sunlight right away, it might get me 6 weeks shorter in the training time, but 6 weeks in 20 years for training is nothing and I could lose my precious tree!!!. My teacher always tells his new student is "Patience, patience and patience"!

Bonhe

 

[michaelj]

Lots of soup being made....chefs never agree....This is a plant from the desert, indigenous to the Mediterranean states like Israel, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. There is no place in the USA where weather could be harsh for pomagranates.
edit: snow could be a problem though......

I ordinarily leave them in full sun, but right after a hard root pruning I'm a bit more conservative. That said, you might like this story:

Almost 3 years ago, I answered an ad inviting people to come dig out bougainvillea from someone who was doing a landscaping renovation. I got there after work - maybe 6 pm - and it was still very hot. It was probably July or August. As I was pulling my two bougies around to load, I saw two pomegranates with dry bare roots in a pile of green garden waste. I asked how long ago they had pulled those out. They said probably 1o am. They said I could take them so I did. Potted them up in straight DE. Both lost their leaves and died back at the tips on the smaller branches, but both came back after about 5-6 weeks.

I wouldn't recommend doing that to a collected pomegranate, but it's nice to know that you can bare root it and leave it in the summer sun for 8 hours and it might still have a chance to survive.

 

[bonhe]

I have a friend who just joined this hobby one and a half years ago. To build up his confidence, I occasionally gave him different types of trees to practice with. Most of the time I let him have trees which hard to kill and the pomegranate is the one!
I agree with Michaelj that the pomegranate can be bare root and let it stay in the hot air for a while! We actually can make a big cutting, too. Two of four big pomegranate bonsai which I process, were from the cutting! The trunk base diameter are about 32 and 35 cm and they were cut flat!! In summary, we can do whatever we can for the pomegranate, but post transplant is very critical!
Bonhe

 

[Ironbeaver]

haven't been able to locate that article again

The article was in Bonsai Today 107, it cautioned cutting off large roots or branched because it could cause corresponding dieback. Has anyone seen this happen?

 

[Geo]

but post transplant is very critical!
Bonhe

@bonhe Please enlarge on this statement.

 

[JoeR]

For pomegranates being so easy to root large pieces I cant seem to find any for sale online...

 

[justBonsai]

For pomegranates being so easy to root large pieces I cant seem to find any for sale online...

It might just be a regional thing. Pomegranates are well suited to my climate so I can buy them at both regular and bonsai nurseries. House of Bonsai sells em online but are a bit expensive.

 

[milehigh_7]

It might just be a regional thing. Pomegranates are well suited to my climate so I can buy them at both regular and bonsai nurseries. House of Bonsai sells em online but are a bit expensive.

The dwarf varieties trunk up pretty slowly and that is likely why they are pricey.

 

[aframe]

Well over 50% of root ball removed; repotted in early Feb 2016.

 

[bonsaibp]

For pomegranates being so easy to root large pieces I cant seem to find any for sale online...

For pomegranates being so easy to root large pieces I cant seem to find any for sale online...

Send me a pm with your price range and size your looking for. I have lots of small to medium ones- mostly twisted pomegranate but a few others- dwarf and black as well.

 

[milehigh_7]

Send me a pm with your price range and size your looking for. I have lots of small to medium ones- mostly twisted pomegranate but a few others- dwarf and black as well.

When you say "black" do you mean 'Emperor'?

 

[Eric Group]

When you say "black" do you mean 'Emperor'?

I have a nice little Emperor... Crazy cool tree. Getting a Bonsai pot this year instead of it's plastic bulb pot! Cuttings are insanely easy. I swear they have roots in 2-3 weeks sometimes!

I have a couple little cuttings left from last year I will probably sell a few once they show growth to prove they made it through winter OK. I plan to take some more cuttings this Spring so I should have some more in a month or two... Small ones... The Emperor is a dwarf variety, it grows fast but doesn't trunk up into a big tree quickly... The range of color in the blooms is what makes it so amazing! From bright reddish orange to DARK purple/ black! Fruits are small too which is good for Bonsai obviously!

 

[justBonsai]

Some updates on the tree:

The tree appears fine and is still shoving out. I don't know how long it's supposed to take for the leaves to fully flush out and harden but it appears to be going a bit slow. If I could redo the repotting again I would prune some of the top and unnecessary branching to reduce the demand on the root system. Since I only did root reduction without reducing the amount of extending buds I put a lot of stress on the tree. Hopefully by a month or so it becomes settled in and I can begin feeding.


On a different note, do pomegranates have multiple flushes of growth in a season or only flush?

 

[Geo]

In my climate I have to prune back several times a year.That is, grow out and hedge clip.It is,however a young tree.Last year I collected a less than 'stick in a pot' seedling.Today I am about to cut back hard for about the eighth time.The caliper is now at least 1 inch with large nebari.Here they are never truly dormant:just slow down for a couple of months and lose a few leaves.Might not re pot this year.I missed the pseudo sleep.

 

[bonhe]

@bonhe Please enlarge on this statement.

Thanks for asking me this question Geo.
When I did a big cutting in my area ( hot and dry), I always used plastic bag to cover the whole pot and tree and placed it in the shady place. Then, I would check the bag every day to make sure that humidity was still good inside the bag ( I should see lot of tiny drops of water on the inside of the bag; if I did not see this sign, I would open the bag and water the soil and then spray the water mist into the bag, then cover the pot again). Keep doing that until I saw the young leaves turn color from yellow to green, then I slowly removed the bag every 2 - 3 days. In the process of removing the bag, I made sure that the leaves did not show any sign of dehyfration. If there is sign of dehyfration, I will cover the plastic bag again until no more sign of dehydration. When the bag was completely removed, I would continue keeping the volatile tree in the shady place with frequent overhead misty system about 1- 2 months before I carefully place it in the direct morning sunlight at first.
Bonhe

 

[bonhe]

For pomegranates being so easy to root large pieces I cant seem to find any for sale online...

I don't think many people know how to do that!
Bonhe

 

[ColinFraser]

Started a layer on mine; thought it would be fun to share here, since we pretty much started with the same tree.

 

[justBonsai]

Started a layer on mine; thought it would be fun to share here, since we pretty much started with the same tree.
View attachment 103472 View attachment 103473 View attachment 103474 View attachment 103475

Looking good! Mine is a bit slow to get going but considering that I removed most of the roots I suppose its to be expected. New roots are appearing in the fresh substrate so it should be fine. I don't know if pomegranates produce multiple flushes of leaves per season or just one but if its the former I'll do my cut backs by mid summer or so.

 

[Geo]

Looking good! Mine is a bit slow to get going but considering that I removed most of the roots I suppose its to be expected. New roots are appearing in the fresh substrate so it should be fine. I don't know if pomegranates produce multiple flushes of leaves per season or just one but if its the former I'll do my cut backs by mid summer or so.

Here I have what almost seems to be unlimited flushes of new growth.You should enjoy several.